(W.o.W. Rewind) An Old Testament Pattern of Evangelism

 When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon...she was overwhelmed. She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe what they said until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told me; you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your people must be!... Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on his throne as king...”

King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for; he gave her more than she had brought to him. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.

2 Chronicles 9:3-8

When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame, she came up to Jerusalem, half incredulously, with a great caravan of gifts for the king and with just as many questions to test him. She couldn't believe the stories she had heard were true. She was overwhelmed to find out that she hadn't heard the half of it! After Solomon had answered all her questions and after she had praised God for giving His people such a wise king, Solomon generously gave her all she asked him for. In fact, he ended up giving her more than she had brought to him in the first place. He blessed her more than she blessed him. 

May this be the pattern of our witness as well! Unbelievers should hear stories about the love and generosity and joy and reconciliation and unity within our churches. They should come to church out of curiosity, half incredulously, to see if the stories they heard could possibly be true. And when an unbeliever does investigate our church or our lives, let us be very careful to exceed their expectations in every way. So that they can rejoice in saying that they hadn't even heard the half of the amazing work God was doing in us. 

And as they go out from us, curiosity satisfied, let us take great care and even pride in making sure that we are more a blessing to them than they are to us. Be a blessing to lost people every chance you get! This is a sign of God's goodness and blessing in your life that you have enough extra love and kindness and peace and time and even money to allow some to spill out onto them. This should be true of us individually and of our churches as a whole. We don't need to take anything from this old world. It all belongs to our God, so we ought to be generous and even extravagant in seeking to be a blessing to those who come to us seeking to know about Jesus.

Think on this today. When people hear stories about you, stories about your church, what kind of stories do they hear? When they come to see if the stories are true, does the reality of your everyday life outshine the stories? And when these lost people leave you to go out on their way, do you seek to bless them in the name of Jesus every chance you get? I know I still don't measure up, but I am going to strive to follow Solomon's pattern in my life and in my church. 

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Blessed is the one

who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

and who meditates on his law day and night.

Psalm 1:1-2

You make thousands of decisions every day. But according to the very first words of the very first psalm, your blessedness in life is largely determined by what you choose NOT to do. Psalm 1:1 says that you will be blessed if you choose to steer clear of wicked, sinful, mockers.

Think of this decision as a guardrail of sorts for you life. When you drive down a road with a steep dropoff to one side; a nice, sturdy guardrail can be a real blessing. It can help you avoid disaster. So too, can deciding not to go the way of sinners! 

Scripture tells us plainly that those who rebel against God's rule - the wicked, the sinful, the mocker -  are headed for destruction. Their path leads to ruin. So, it's a blessing for anyone to set up a guardrail in their life by making the decision not to go that way. 

Instead, Psalm 1 advises you to delight in God's Word and meditate on it. Biblical meditation is about going over God's Word again and again to help you digest it better... not unlike a cow chewing its cud. In fact, in the original language, this word for meditate means to mumble or mutter. It pictures the believer muttering the words of Scripture to himself night and day gaining a greater understanding of it as he does.

So, here's two more decisions you can make today. First, choose whether or not you are going to go the way of the wicked, the sinner, and the mocker? If you want to be blessed, you won't. Second, choose whether or not you will make the time to meditate on God's Word? If you want to be blessed, you will.

Victory through Suffering

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

Acts 8:1

The early church father Tertullian said, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” What he meant by this was that every time the enemies of the church tried to stamp Christianity out by persecuting and killing Christians… the church grew. It was almost as if the persecutors of Christianity were planting seeds by spilling the blood of the martyrs on the ground. Everywhere Christians were killed for their faith, new believers sprang up.

This is exactly what we see in Stephen’s case. His death was the catalyst for a great persecution that broke out against the church in Jerusalem. And it caused a great scattering of believers. Just as seed is scattered over barren ground to bring in the harvest, God used this persecution to scatter thousands of Christians throughout Judea and Samaria and eventually out even into farther regions. Acts 11:19-21 tells us that eventually those who were scattered by this persecution even went as far as Syrian Antioch 300 miles north of Jerusalem. 

And guess what they did? They took the gospel with them! Everywhere these Christians went, they preached the gospel. Thousands of believers were essentially sent out on mission by God through persecution because of Stephen’s death. And those thousands accomplished more for the kingdom than Stephen ever could have by himself even had he lived a full life.

So, yes, God allowed Stephen to suffer. But God used Stephen's suffering and his death to accomplish far more than Stephen ever could have by living a full life. Stephen’s suffering and death wasn’t his defeat. It was his greatest victory!

None of us want to suffer. But for believers. Sometimes suffering isn't defeat. Sometimes suffering is the beginning of our greatest victory. Because sometimes God uses suffering in our lives to do His greatest work through us. Who knows what victories God might bring about through your suffering, your hardship, your difficulty. If you will only faithfully bear witness to Him through it. So, let’s pray that, like Stephen, we will be faithful to the end and that God will give us great victories even through our suffering.

The Gift of Suffering

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

2 Corinthians 12:7

Paul was an apostle. He was planting churches and sharing the gospel. Why would God let this happen to him? Why allow this thorn in the flesh to come into his life?

Paul tells us exactly why. He says, “in order to keep me from becoming conceited.” This thorn was given to Paul to keep him from becoming conceited about the great vision of heaven that God had given him.

God saw that there was a danger of Paul becoming conceited. And even though we don’t think a lot about pride bring very dangerous, it is. It’s a deadly sin. In fact, God knew that pride posed a greater risk to Paul than suffering. So, "God lovingly, gently and sovereignly afflicted His apostle to protect him."*

The Enemy has destroyed many Christians by success and wealth and power and pride that he never could have destroyed by failure or pain or suffering. So, beware too much success. Beware pride. Great Christians, great pastors have been ruined by them.

We have a terrible tendency to think that any hardship, any suffering that God allows into our lives must mean that He has abandoned us. But the truth is that sometimes God sends suffering into our lives as a gift. Certainly, it’s a gift that no one wants to receive. But it is still one which God gives in love. Sometimes suffering is sent into your life to protect you… to protect you from a fate far worse. Sometimes hardship, suffering, and difficulty signs that God loves you and is working to protect you.

*Yarbrough, Robert W., Andrew David Naselli, Dane Ortlund, and Frank Thielman. Romans–Galatians. Edited by Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar. Vol. X. ESV Expository Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020.